Chapter Two

Harry laid on the cot he was using for the rest of the summer in Ron's room, flipping slowly through the photo album Hagrid had given him. He paused at a picture of his mother and father sitting on the shore of the black lake, his father leaned in and whispered something to his mother, after a few seconds she leaned away from him and send a series of playful slaps at the arm she was previously holding, her obvious shouts of laughter (despise wizarding pictures not having sound) just seemed to underscore the feelings they shared. The camera Ms. Figg had packed in the box, sat beside him on the bed and he idly played with the strap as he looked through his album. He thought about the pictures he cherished so much, and what his last school year was like. A soft knock broke him from his thoughts. Mrs. Weasley cracked the door open and let him know that dinner would be ready in a few minutes and remind him to wash up.

Harry picked up the album to lock away in his school trunk, he stared at the camera. They were going to meet Hermione and her parents tomorrow in Diagon alley. He remembered thinking that Hermione would be the first of his friends he would be able to take a picture of, just for the fact that the Weasleys would have arrived at the train at the last minute like usual, and he and Hermione would have found a compartment and saved him a seat. That was before Ron and his twin brothers showed up to rescue him for the rest of the summer. So he stared at the camera as he came to a decision, he wanted there to be pictures of him and his friends just like there were of his parents. Putting the camera on top of his trunk, where there was little to no chance he would forget it in the morning, he thought it would be best if he had it with him if he was going to buy film and potions to develop it in (Mr. Weasley had explained that the pictures needed to be developed in specific potions and then charmed to get a moving wizards picture), with a plan in place, Harry went down to join the family for dinner.

Dinner was what he had come to expect from the family of redheads, loud, boisterous, delicious, and plentiful. Having begged off having a third helping of everything, Harry sat back and enjoyed the atmosphere of family that filled the Burrow. He couldn't help but feel happy and content. In the middle of a Weasley family dinner, or even the end, was not the place for a quiet moment also with your thoughts. It was Ron who pulled Harry away from the table and right to the orchard where they could play quidditch as long as they didn't fly too high. The sun was setting and it was getting difficult to see the apples they used as quaffles in the failing light, when Mrs. Weasley called them back to the house. Walking side by side with Ron, Harry couldn't help but smile. He had been doing that a lot lately, ever since he got to the Burrow if he thought about it.

School shopping had been fun with both Hermione and Ron up until the incident at the bookstore. If only the Malfoys would realize that nobody is impressed by their snooty attitudes and leave him alone, well it still wouldn't have been a perfect day, but it was close. Harry was prepared to have to sneak away from the watchful eyes of Mrs. Weasley, but it turned out that just mentioning he wanted to go to the camera shop saw Hermione and her dad all three slipping away. Mr. Granger was fascinated by wizard photos and ended up buying a dozen rolls of film for Harry, insisting that he sent him pictures as soon as he figured out how to make them, which caused Hermione to huff and complain. "Honestly, anytime we go anywhere Dad takes enough pictures to make a stop motion film with. I'm a little shocked he didn't bring his camera today"

Mr. Granger was at the other side of the shop in conversation with the clerk and couldn't hear them. Harry glanced at her father and felt like maybe he understood. "I don't think there's anything wrong with wanting something to remember the good times with." He seemed lost for a minute before he said anything else. "It's just.. " he stopped, unsure of what he wanted to say. He didn't know how to put into words his new desire. He shrugged and turned away. He didn't see the look of comprehension on Hermione's face as she figured out where his new interest in photography had come from. Hermione was always clever like that, she knew him well enough to know just how much a book of photos could mean to him.

They had established something of a routine surrounded dinner, first the dinner itself, which pretty much followed the same mould as all meals at the Burrow. Followed by quidditch in the orchard, then chess with Ron or just reading and doing homework in the living room until Mrs. Weasley sent everyone to bed.

Walking back to the house after their nightly game Harry turned to Ron "up for a game of chess?" He asked even though they played pretty much every night.

"Yea, alright" Ron tried to play it off like it wasn't something he would have asked Harry in a minute or two anyways.

"Alright then" Harry said just as nonchalantly. He stopped walking for a second, drawing Ron to stop as well. When Ron turned to look at him, he saw the smile on Harry's face change to a bit more of a smirk. Without any warning Harry yelled to Ron "race ya" and took off running.

It didn't take Ron more than a second to catch on, but he had no chance of catching up.

Harry dashed through the kitchen, bouncing off the door jamb as he rounded into the living room at full speed. Seeing Ginny was the only other person in the room Harry made straight for her. She had jumped up when he came crashing into the room.

Quickly grabbing her and placing her between himself and the kitchen door he whispered frantically "he's coming, you have to help me, he has vile, unspeakable things planned. He's coming to make me play chess." The hurried and fearful tone confused Ginny. The second crash entry of Ron was accompanied by shouts from Mrs. Weasley about running in the house only added to the confusion.

Ron stopped just inside the door and took in the scene around him. His best friend was hiding behind his little sister, what was going on? When Harry pushed Ginny forward calling for her to attack, repel, and use her little sister powers to defend him, he couldn't help but be gobsmacked. Harry lasted thirty seconds before he broke out in laughter.

If he had his camera this would make a perfect picture. Ron join him in laughing until his ribs hurt. When they both could breath without giggling, Ron moved to the small table where the chess board was set up and said "so we playing or what"

"Fine but Ginnys' on my team." Harry replied.

He hadn't really spoken to Ginny since he got here, every time they were in the same room she would blush and find some excuse to run out of the room. Turning to Ginny he said "come on, between the two of us we should have no problem beating him."

Two devastating losses later, Harry declared the next game would definitely be their victory. It was not. During their games Ron noticed Harry never stopped smiling and making jokes about crushing his enemies. "Your a weird bloke sometimes mate, you know that right?". Ron asked

Harry shrugged "eh, seems to be working out pretty well for me"

Ron snorted looking down at the board and seeing the pitiful state of Harry's pieces "oh, how's that?" He questioned.

"Well.. " Harry paused and leaned back in his chair, stretching his arm along the back of Ginny's chair. "I'm spending the summer with my best mate, we just got finished playing quidditch, me and your sister are about to destroy you in chess, and when your mom comes in to send us up for the night I have a better than average chance of getting another piece of pie before bed. I think it's working out pretty well." Harry couldn't help the contented smile on his face.

"your mental, well most of that's true, and I can guarantee you'll get pie if you ask, but there's no way you're winning this game." Ron smirked back at him.

The rest of the summer passed in days filled with quidditch, swimming in the pond, massive amounts of food and just hanging out with his friends. Ginny seemed to loosen up around him after that night and actually started speaking to him without needing an invitation. He rarely saw the twins, but heard them plenty as their room was constantly exploding, whistling, and sometimes barking.

Another person he met was Ginny's childhood friend Luna Love good. Meeting Luna was something he would never forget. Harry and Ron were hacking oblivion ivy away from the inside wall that bordered the Burrow on the side of the road. Oblivion ivy gave off a natural scent that would cause muggles to have difficulties recalling anything in with any clarity when nearby. Which is great for living in a magical house near a muggle village, but the downside of the creeping vines is that it needs to be cut often lest it grow wild and take over the whole Burrow.

Harry and Ron had been hacking away at the plant for most of the morning and were just starting to grumble about lunch (mostly Ron) when Harry noticed a tiny slip of a girl skipping down the road in their direction.

She skipped to a stop with a twirl at the end and just seemed to stare at Harry without actually looking right at him. In an airy voice she said "hello Harry Potter, you have a wonderful lack of fluttering whumpums around you" she continued to stare not exactly at Harry without embarrassment.

"Ummm. Thank you?" Harry guessed. He had never heard of a whumpums fluttering or otherwise, but Luna seemed to think that fewer were better so in a roundabout way, maybe it was a compliment? not sure where to go from here Harry was saved when Ron noticed Luna.

"Hey Luna, Ginny's in the house" he greeted her like he had done it countless times before.

"That's nice" Luna said serenely but made no move to actually go towards the house. She just stood and hummed quietly to herself.

Ron had turned back to the vines and with one last yank, pulled the large section of plant he had been working on away from the wall and tossed it on the pile of their mornings work.

"Come on, let's see if lunch is ready." Ron said to Harry as he was already walking back to the house.

Harry turned to Luna who didn't seem to mind Ron completely dismissing her, "would you like to join us for lunch?" He asked, feeling quite awkward at being left alone with her.

Luna was perfectly pleasant when she agreed with a dazzling smile.

Harry quickly learned that Luna was actually one of the kindest people he had ever met. She could go on for hours about magical creatures nobody had ever seen, and nothing anyone else said could shake her beliefs. They had quite a conversation one lunch time when Ron tried to question why nobody else had ever seen her creatures.

Harry was usually fine with just staying out of any arguments that didn't have to do with him directly, but for some reason Ron was getting to him when he just dismissed everything Luna said as if she were stupid.

"Ron do you remember when Hermione researched invisibility cloaks" Harry asked evenly, then continued when Ron nodded. "They're made out of demeguise hair, right?" Ron nodded again, more focused on his plate of food than anything. "so we know that there are magical creatures that can turn invisible whenever they want. Why can't there be a snorcak that has some kind of natural notice me not charm or something? We just spent all morning cutting a plant that makes muggles forget. It certainly seems possible to me." Harry had set his spoon down and was fully focused on the points he was thinking about. "less than a year old magic wasn't real to me, dragons, unicorns, centaurs, and giants were all just make believe. Why can't there be more out there than we already know?"

Ron mumbled something under his breath, that almost sounded like someone grudgingly agreeing, and the conversation changed to the upcoming school year